Sacramento Kings: Buddy Hield beginning to show flashes of stardom

Buddy Hield is finally beginning to show flashes of becoming a star scorer for the Sacramento Kings.

At 24 years of age, there is no real reason for Buddy Hield to be a concern for Sacramento Kings fans. Yes, he was the main piece in the trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins out of town, but that is not a good reason to add more pressure on the youngster’s shoulders.

Coming into the 2017-18 NBA season, expectations were high for Hield. Fans were hoping to see him develop into a legitimate No. 1 scoring option. While he hasn’t been in the starting lineup for the majority of the season, Hield has begun showing signs of being a lethal scorer.

Overall this season, Hield has averaged 12.7 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He has shot 43.6 percent from the field while knocking down 42.1 percent of his 3-point attempts. Those numbers may not look impressive, but he has been a bit better as of late.

During February, Hield averaged 14 points per game. He had quite a few big individual game performances in that stretch, with six games above 16 points. Hield also had a big game during the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star weekend, scoring 29 points.

Sacramento is struggling through yet another rough season, currently headed for a high lottery pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Hield knows that his job could be taken at any moment, especially with the talent that the Kings will have to choose from in this draft class.

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While he is still young, Hield must continue to show signs of the star potential that the Kings saw in him when they acquired him from the New Orleans Pelicans. If he is unable to finish the season strong, Sacramento could consider moving him or bringing in a player that will eat into his minutes even more.

There is nothing holding Hield back from being a special scorer other than himself. Finding more aggressiveness and confidence is a must for him in order to reach his full potential. Those are two areas where he has shown major issues with consistency throughout his first two NBA seasons.

Looking ahead at the future in Sacramento, the King still seem to have a lot of confidence in Hield. They have a great young core to build around, including Hield, De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Justin Jackson and Willie Cauley-Stein. Even with that young core, there need to be one or two main scorers stepping up for the Kings to keep them together without adding other talent.

Hield may not be showing the 20 points per game scoring average many expected to see from him early on. He may not be showing that he is much more than a spot-up shooter just yet, but the talent is there. Simply seeing the flashes isn’t good enough, however, and Hield needs to figure out ways to improve from a consistency standpoint.

With all of that being said, there have been some very good signs from the young shooting guard. Even if the midst of a disappointing season, the Kings have to be happy. They are heading in the right direction and Hield is a big part of what they are hoping to accomplish in the next few years.

Expect to see Hield continue showing signs of improvement over the next couple seasons. He was not acquired to be an overnight superstar.

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It was known that it would take time for him to develop and the signs that he is showing this year is evidence that Hield has the potential to become a top-notch scorer for the Kings in the next phase of their rebuilding process.

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